waterfowl shorebirds & wading birds

I saw so many birds today, but almost all of my photos of them ended up blurry. This has been a recurring issue. But I finally figured out the problem! Read on for the solution, plus not-atrocious photos of buffleheads. Read more …

This beautiful bird is the white-naped crane (Antigone vipio), an Asian crane that breeds in northern Mongolia, northeastern China, and neighboring parts of Russia. The eastern members of the species winter in Japan and Korea, including the Korean demilitarized zone. Japan and Korea play important roles in my family history, so maybe that’s why this particular pair of cranes were so cooperative in letting me take their pictures.

I don’t often get a chance to see coots up close. At the lake, they tend to congregate out in the water and swim away if I walk toward them. And they are fast swimmers—at least it seems to me that for every step I take toward them, they move three steps farther away. Read more …

Most domestic duck breeds are descended from mallards and classified as the same species, Anas platyrhynchos. So it can be hard to tell if a white duck is an escaped domestic or a mallard that lacks feather pigments. Whatever the case may be, this one is pretty cute. I took a lot of pictures.

Most domestic duck breeds are descended from mallards and classified as the same species, Anas platyrhynchos. So it can be hard to tell if a white duck is an escaped domestic or a mallard that lacks feather pigments. Whatever the case may be, this one is pretty cute. I took a lot of pictures.

Today is a photo post in praise of the great blue heron (Ardea herodias), the largest heron in North America. It can be found from southeast Alaska and southern Canada down through Mexico and the Caribbean to Central America. Wisconsin is toward the north of its winter range.Read more …

Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola) are one of the smallest ducks in North America. They’re also very skittish. Combine those two things, and you get pictures like this. Keep reading to learn why buffleheads are called buffleheads. Read more …

It’s that time of the year for great blue heron sightings, so if it shows up as bird of the day more than once, don’t blame me. We saw this one on the lakeshore during our afternoon walk, near sunset. Read more …

I saw a great blue heron today, which means I’ll probably start seeing sandhill cranes again soon, as well. The heron was hunting on the edge of a pond, and it found a frog … or maybe it was a piece of mulch. Read more …

We saw this duck today on the edge of the lake while we were on our walk. We argued for a while over what kind of bird it was (Companion was convinced it was a gull until he caught the color of the bill), because white ducks are not a common thing around here. While it could be a leucistic (partially albino) mallard … Read more …